A Poultry Sum

In 1971, with only $200 in his wallet, Moe Bonakdar left Iran
for America, picking up English along the way. Thirty years later,
he's president of Charo Chicken Systems Inc., a quick-service
restaurant featuring fresh, flame-broiled chicken. With 11
California locations and seven more in the works for 2001, Bonakdar
believes chicken will soon rival pizza for the No. 1 spot in the
delivery arena.

"The future and direction of the restaurant business is
going to be delivery," says Bonakdar, 49, who started
franchising in 1999. "Pizza right now is the dominant player
in that field, but we're laying the foundation for
chicken."

Ironically, Bonakdar's first taste of the restaurant
business just happened to come in the form of a pizza pie. After
college, lured by the restaurant bug, Bonakdar opened his own pizza
place called Al Capone's in 1979. That business grew to five
Southern California units, but Bonakdar wasn't satisfied. In
1984, believing chicken was the next big thing, he opened his first
Charo Chicken store in Seal Beach, California, to serve a brand of
healthy, fresh chicken. Since then, his business has been 40
percent delivery, 40 percent takeout and 20 percent dine-in. With
sales of $900,000 for 2000, Bonakdar's five-year plan is to
build his franchise into 50 franchise locations.

"If you can put together taste with a healthy image, you
have a viable concept," he says. And that's one
combination pizza businesses haven't delivered.